GOD WHO CARES
(1 Peter 5:7) Cast
all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. NIV
No matter what you think or what you are going through,
there is God and He answers Prayers. God hears more than we say when we pray.
God will never let you down. Take time to talk and listen and listen to the
Lord when He speaks to you. Have you ever experienced a season of waiting on
God and it looks as if it's taking for ever to get answers? Don't give up
praying because your answer is being delayed. God may permit delay because He
wants to increase your patience and if He doesn't answer a particular prayer,
it is because He has something better for you.
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| Pastor Benjamin Nyam (Presiding Pastor RKMI) |
Dr. Helen Roseveare shared this powerful experience when she
worked as Missionary Doctor to the Congo between 1953 to 1973.
"One night I had worked hard to help a mother in the
labor ward; but in spite of all we could do, she died leaving us with a tiny
premature baby and a crying two-year-old daughter. We would have difficulty
keeping the baby alive; as we had no incubator (we had no electricity to run an
incubator). We also had no special feeding facilities. Although we lived on the
equator, nights were often chilly with treacherous drafts. One student midwife
went for the box we had for such babies and the cotton wool that the baby would
be wrapped in.
Another went to stoke up the fire and fill a hot water
bottle. She came back shortly in distress to tell me that in filling the
bottle, it had burst (rubber perishes easily in tropical climates). "And
it is our last hot water bottle!" she exclaimed. As in the West, it is no
good crying over spilled milk so in Central Africa it might be considered no
good crying over burst water bottles. They do not grow on trees, and there are
no drugstores down forest pathways. "All right," I said, "put
the baby as near the fire as you safely can, and sleep between the baby and the
door to keep it free from drafts. Your job is to keep the baby warm." The
following noon, as I did most days, I went to have prayers with any of the
orphanage children who chose to gather with me. I gave the youngsters various
suggestions of things to pray about and told them about the tiny baby. I
explained our problem about keeping the baby warm enough, mentioning the hot
water bottle, and that the baby could so easily die if it got chills. I also
told them of the two- year-old sister, crying because her mother had died.
During prayer time, one ten-year old girl, Ruth, prayed with the usual blunt
conciseness of our African children. "Please, God" she prayed,
"Send us a water bottle. It'll be no good tomorrow, God, as the baby will
be dead, so please send it this afternoon." While I gasped inwardly at the
audacity of the prayer, she added, "And while You are about it, would You
please send a dolly for the little girl so she'll know You really love her?"
As often with children's prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I honestly say ,"Amen".
I just did not believe that God could do this. Oh, yes, I know that He can do
everything, the Bible says so.
But there are limits, aren't there? The only way God could
answer this particular prayer would be by sending me a parcel from homeland. I
had been in Africa for almost four years at that time, and I had never, ever
received a parcel from home.
Anyway, if anyone did send me a parcel, who would put in a
hot water bottle? I lived on the equator! Halfway through the afternoon, while
I was teaching in the nurses' training school, a message was sent that there
was a car at my front door.
By the time I reached home, the car had gone, bu
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| Some worshippers at RKMI |
Then there were the knitted bandages for the leprosy
patients, and the children looked a little bored. Then came a box of mixed
raisins and sultanas - that would make a batch of buns for the weekend. Then,
as I put my hand in again, I felt the…..could it really be? I grasped it and pulled
it out - yes, a brand-new, rubber hot water bottle. I cried. I had not asked God
to send it; I had not truly believed that He could. Ruth was in the front row of
the children. She rushed forward, crying out, "If God has sent the bottle,
He must have sent the dolly too!" Rummaging down to the bottom of the box,
she pulled out the small, beautifully dressed dolly. Her eyes shone! She had never
doubted! Looking up at me, she asked: "Can I go over with you and give this
dolly to that little girl, so she'll know that Jesus really loves her?"
That parcel had been on the way for five whole months.
Packed up by my
former Sunday school class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God's prompting
to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator. And one of the girls had put
in a dolly for an African child - five months before, in answer to the
believing prayer of a ten- year-old to bring it "that afternoon."
"And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while
they are yet speaking, I will hear." Isaiah 65:24.
Our God is faithful. There is nothing too hard for Him to
do. Have faith in Him. When you least expect it, God will answer and miracles
will happen.
Don't
Give Up on God. He cares
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